Photographs of missing children. The Internal Revenue Service is a proud partner with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Photographs of
missing children
selected by the Center may appear in this publication on pages that would otherwise be blank. You can help bring these children
home by looking at the
photographs and calling 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678) if you recognize a child.
The purpose of this publication is:
-
To figure the child tax credit you claim on Form 1040, line 51, or Form 1040A, line 33, and
-
To figure the amount of taxable earned income you enter on line 4a of Form 8812, Additional Child Tax Credit.
This publication is intended primarily for individuals sent here by the instructions to Forms 1040, 1040A, and 8812. Even
if you were not sent here
by the instructions to one of the forms, you can still choose to use this publication to figure your credit. However, most
individuals can use the
simpler worksheet in their tax form instructions.
This publication includes a detailed example of a taxpayer who figures the child tax credit and the additional child tax credit.
If you were sent here from your Form 1040 or Form 1040A instructions.
Go to page 4 of this publication and complete the Child Tax Credit Worksheet.
If you were sent here from your Form 8812 instructions.
Go to page 8 of this publication and complete the 1040 Filers – Taxable Earned Income Worksheet.
If you have not read your Form 1040 or Form 1040A instructions.
Read the explanation of who must use this publication next. If you find that you are not required to use this publication
to figure your child tax
credit, you can use the simpler worksheet in the Form 1040 or Form 1040A instructions to figure your credit.
Who must use this publication.
If you answer “
Yes” to any of the following questions, you must use this publication to figure your child tax credit.
-
Are you excluding income from Puerto Rico or are you filing any of the following forms?
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Form 2555 or 2555-EZ (relating to foreign earned income)
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Form 4563 (exclusion of income for residents of American Samoa)
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Is the amount on Form 1040, line 37, or Form 1040A, line 22, more than the amount shown next for your filing status?
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Married filing jointly – $110,000
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Single, head of household, or qualifying widow(er) – $75,000
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Married filing separately – $55,000
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Are you claiming any of the following credits?
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Adoption credit, Form 8839
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Mortgage interest credit, Form 8396
-
District of Columbia first-time homebuyer credit, Form 8859
Comments and suggestions.
We welcome your comments about this publication and your suggestions for future editions.
You can write to us at the following address:
Internal Revenue Service
Individual Forms and Publications Branch
SE:W:CAR:MP:T:I
1111 Constitution Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20224
We respond to many letters by telephone. Therefore, it would be helpful if you would include your daytime phone number,
including the area code, in
your correspondence.
You can email us at
*[email protected]. (The asterisk must be included in the
address.) Please put “
Publications Comment” on the subject line. Although we cannot respond individually to each email, we do appreciate your
feedback and will consider your comments as we revise our tax products.
Tax questions.
If you have a tax question, visit
www.irs.gov or call 1-800-829-1040. We cannot answer tax questions at either
of the addresses listed above.
Ordering forms and publications.
Visit
www.irs.gov/formspubs
to download forms and publications, call 1-800-829-3676, or write to one of the three addresses shown under
How To Get Tax Help in the back
of this publication.
